STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—The end of the Joe Paterno era at Penn State began with a loss. Nebraska beat Penn State, 17-14, on Saturday in the first game after a child abuse sex scandal rocked the Nittany Lions. Paterno was fired Wednesday night after serving as head coach since 1966 and with the team since 1950.

The loss is Penn State’s first in Big Ten conference play, but the Nittany Lions remain in first place in the Leaders Division (5-1, 8-2 overall). With the win, Nebraska improves to 4-2 in the Big Ten and 8-2 overall.

Penn State struggled for much of the game but had a chance to pull off a dramatic comeback. They had the ball down by 3 with 3:52 left and again with 49 seconds left but could not move the ball either time.

Penn State’s offense has not been a strength to begin with; it is 10th in the Big Ten in yards from scrimmage. Throw in a week of unparalleled distractions, and it’s no surprise the offense struggled. Quarterback Matt McGloin completed 15 of 32 passes for 184 yards. Stephfon Green ran 17 times for 71 yards and two touchdowns.

Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez was effective as a dual threat quarterback running the option, completing 13 of 26 passes for 143 yards and rushing 18 times for 55 yards. In the third quarter, he ran right on first-and-10 at the PSU 15. Running along with him, a few yards back, was running back Rex Burkhead. A defender brought Martinez down, and as he fell he flipped the ball to Burkhead, who caught it, turned the corner and sprinted to the end zone. That proved to be the winning touchdown. — Matt Crossman

TCU pulled off what could be the biggest upset of the season with a 36-35 win over heavily favored Boise State.

When Boise State’s third string running back fumbled, TCU took advantage.

Quarterback Casey Pachall found Brandon Carter for a 25-yard touchdown with 1:05 left.

Then TCU coach Gary Patterson made the gutsiest call of the night. Instead of going for the extra point, Patterson decided to go for the lead — and the victory.

Josh Boyce won the fight for Pachall’s pass on the two-point conversion to give the Horned Frogs the lead.

But what looked like a sure thing was anything but when TCU’s kickoff sailed out of bounds, giving Boise the ball at the 40 to start the drive. On fourth and 10 on the drive, the Horned Frogs were called for pass interference, giving new life to the Broncos.

Dan Goodale had the one shot to save his team’s season. He’d made from 31 and 32 yards, but missed the game winner from 38 yards, ending one of the most spectacular runs in recent college football history.

This is the first time Boise had this kind of fight all year long. It started by embarrassing Georgia and continued to roll. Boise had won 35-straight games on its home field.

Pachall had 473 passing yards and five touchdowns. Boise State, meanwhile, was playing without its leading running back Doug Martin, who left the game with an injury.

After one quarter, LSU – big and mighty, No.1-ranked LSU – was in a tie ballgame with Western Kentucky.

Over the shock?

Good, because it didn’t last.

The Tigers slow start slowly gained steam and by the time it was over, LSU had won, 42-9.

The Tigers went up 21-7 on a Kenny Hilliard 1-yard run, and after WKU got a safety to make it 21-9, the Tigers moved full speed ahead. Alfred Blue scored on runs of 45 and 4 yards, and Kadron Boone caught a 5-yard TD pass from Jarrett Lee to make it 42-9.

Lee’s confidence might have taken a hit after a rough outing against Alabama. If so, this was the stage for it. He came in behind Jordan Jefferson, who got his first start of the season, but threw only four balls, completing two for 14 yards. Jefferson finished with 168 passing yards. Neither threw an interception and LSU rushed for 291 yards on 40 carries.

Take this critics, doubters and haters: No. 2 Oklahoma State allowed one forgettable touchdown in a complete thrashing of Texas Tech. And that score came courtesy of a 40-yard fumble return.

Ok, the Cowboys seem to have given up 100,000 yards this season. But if they were making a statement about what they could do, the whole nation heard them. Oklahoma State won, 66-6, handing Texas Tech its worst loss since 2000 when it lost to Nebraska by 53 points.

Quarterback Brandon Weeden threw for three first half touchdowns to three different receivers. Joseph Randle ran for three more scores (runs of 2, 1 and 10 yards), and the special teams took back a fumbled Tech return for another TD as the Cowboys held a 49-0 halftime lead.

That ugly only got uglier, and is hardly worth mentioning. Weeden completed 31 of 37 passes for 423 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions before yielding to Clint Chelf.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – And you thought you were going to get off easy, America.

We’re at three weeks and counting in this annual argument that is the BCS race, and the magical, maddening system is poised to give you a choice: which rematch do you want?

No.1 LSU vs Alabama or Oregon?

Choose wisely, everyone.

If you thought the talk of SEC rematch in the BCS National Championship Game made the bile rise in your throat, imagine a rematch of a team LSU beat by 13 in the season opener. Either way, it’s coming.

All it’s going to take is Oklahoma beating Oklahoma State in the season finale. The Sooners have merely beaten the Cowboys the last eight times in the Bedlam series.

Only then will we have the most remarkable finish in BCS history. Yep, even crazier than No.1 and 2 losing on the final week of the season in 2007.

At this point, after seeing Oregon beat Stanford 53-30 on The Farm; after watching the Ducks morph into the Ducks of last season in a center stage moment, Oregon is going to win a lot of arguments about the nation’s best one-loss team.

You want eye test? Oregon made poll voters all over the nation double take with this performance.

And this wasn’t purely old school Oregon. This one had – hold your tongue, SEC – defense.

The Oregon defense forced Stanford All-World quarterback Andrew Luck into his worst game in two years. The best player in the nation, the projected No.1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, looked like he belonged in last week’s Game of the Year in Tuscaloosa. If you know what I mean.

The Oregon offense? The U.S. Olympic committee called. Your spots will be held.

Let’s see, there’s LaMichael James and DeAnthony Thomas and Josh Huff and Kenjon Barner … and you’ve got a 4X100 team. If that’s not enough, you’ve got quarterback Darron Thomas -- embarrassed by his play the last two weeks -- throwing darts and outplaying the best college quarterback prospect since John Elway.

We’ve conveniently forgotten about these Ducks; this crazy-fast, crazy-good group that gave away a couple of critical turnovers against LSU -- and let a game they could have won get away. Once that happened, Oregon was lost in the SEC backwash like everyone else.

After back-to-back losses to Auburn and LSU, Oregon may as well have been Ohio State: the best team in an average conference that had two chances and whiffed both times. Next!

Instead, the Ducks regrouped like they always do under coach Chip Kelly. Like they did in 2009, when a season-opening awful loss to Boise State (see: LeGarrette Blount) didn’t stop them from winning the Pac-10 and going to their first Rose Bowl in 14 years.

Or like they did in 2010, when star quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was kicked off the team before the season began, and when a rash of arrests made the Ducks the scourge of the game. All they did was roll off 12 straight victories, before losing the national title on a last-second field goal.

Now they’re back again, forcing everyone to take one more look. And make one more decision. — Matt Hayes

Mississippi State is 5-5, and that record tells the true story. The Bulldogs are good enough to beat many teams, but not quite complete enough to handle the elite.

With that in mind, it’s really no shock to see they played Alabama as close as anyone has this season. The Tide, coming off a deflating loss to LSU — not to mention an extremely physical game – had to toughen up to get past MSU, 24-7.

The game was scoreless through the first quarter, and at halftime, Alabama only led 7-0, courtesy of an Eddie Lacy 2-yard TD run with 9:59 left.

The third quarter didn’t open the gates, either. The Tide’s Jeremy Shelley made a 24-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead. Trent Richardson’s 2-yard score in the fourth quarter made it 17-0, as Mississippi State wore down and Alabama slowly but surely distanced itself.

One-loss Arkansas quietly continues to hang around in the national championship picture. The Razorbacks pummeled Tennessee, 49-7.

Quarterback Tyler Wilson was efficient throwing for 224 yards and three touchdowns, along with one interception. The ground game for the Razorbacks also had a big day as Arkansas rushed for 250 yards on 30 carries, averaging an astounding 8.3 yards per carry.

It was also a record setting night in Fayetteville. Wide receiver Jarius Wright broke the school record for receptions, that was previously held by Anthony Eubanks, who had 153 receptions during his career at Arkansas.

Wright had five catches for 94 yards and a touchdown to become the school’s new reception leader with 154.

Joe Adams is also moving up the school’s reception list. His two receptions, gave him 153 receptions for his career, tying him for second in school history with Eubanks.

Tennessee receiver Da’Rick Rogers had five receptions for 106 yards in a losing effort.

Arkansas hosts Mississippi State next week before traveling to Baton Rouge to play No. 1 LSU the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Chandler Catanzaro’s 43-yard field goal as time expired clinched the win and more important, the ACC Atlantic Division title for Clemson in its victory over Wake Forest.

Clemson is headed to its second ACC championship game appearance in three years.

Catanzaro had missed a 30-yard field goal two minutes earlier in the game, but he made up for that on his second chance. Clemson made that possible when the defense forced Wake Forest to turn the ball over on downs.

Clemson QB Tajh Boyd threw touchdown passes after Wake Forest had taken a 28-14 lead. Andre Ellington rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers.

Brandon Pendergrass rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries for Wake Forest.

A year ago, Michigan State got shuffled down the Big Ten bowl game deck, falling behind Ohio State and Wisconsin despite finishing in a three-way tie with them.

This year, with a Big Ten championship game to further help sort things out, the Spartans have an opportunity to settle the matter squarely. Michigan State beat Iowa to take control of the Legends Division.

Only Indiana and Northwestern are ahead and really, the Spartans have no business losing to either one.

This game was never close. Michigan State took a 31-7 lead when it scored two quick touchdowns late in the first half. B.J. Cunningham caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins right after Le’Veon Bell had scored on a 25-yard run.

Iowa’s James Vandenberg passed for 262 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to get past Cousins and his crew.

For Auburn (6-4, 4-3), not much could go right in this game. The Tigers finished with only nine first downs, 195 total yards and three turnovers. Running back Michael Dyer also had his lowest yardage output of the season with only 48 yards on the day.

With the win, Georgia remains a half game ahead of No. 15 South Carolina for the SEC East title. If the Bulldogs knock off Kentucky next week, they will win the division crown.

It’s always a special day when Steve Spurrier plays the team he coached for so long, the team he played for, the team that is closest to his heart.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to beat them.

South Carolina defeated Florida in Columbia. With the win, the Gamecocks gave themselves a shot at winning the SEC East Division, but need Georgia to lose one of its final two games (they play Auburn today) to make it to the league’s title game.

The Gamecocks improved to 8-2 and everything is set up now for a big in-state rivalry game against Clemson, which also won Saturday, on Nov. 26.

Caleb Stirgus scored first for Florida. South Carolina QB Connor Shaw had a 10-yard touchdown run, and another from a yard out, to make it 14-3.

It wasn’t until early in the fourth quarter that Florida found the end zone—a 2-yard TD run from Jacoby Brissett.

Badgers’ running back Montee Ball scored three touchdowns and rushed for 167 yards in a 42-13 victory over Minnesota.

Russell Wilson, a Heisman favorite before Wisconsin suffered two losses, was nearly perfect with a stat line any quarterback would envy: 16 of 17 for 177 yards and four touchdowns. He also had seven carries for 20 yards.

More impressive than Wisconsin’s offensive numbers was what it did defensively. The Gophers managed a mere 156 total yards and only nine first downs.

Wisconsin can win the Big Ten Leaders division if it wins remaining games at Illinois and home against Penn State.

Four overtimes. That’s how long it took for Kansas State to finally, finally, vanquish Texas A&M in Manhattan.

Not surprisingly, it did it with its best offensive player, quarterback Collin Klein. He’s not winning any awards; just games like this one. In the third and fourth overtime periods, Klein rushed for touchdowns.

The final one, from 1 yard, clinched the win. Texas A&M had settled for a 20-yard Randy Bullock field goal with its opportunity.

Klein’s 25-yard touchdown run was the difference in the third overtime. A&M answered that with a touchdown pass from Ryan Tannehill to Uzoma Nwachukwu. Both teams failed on two-point conversions, forcing a fourth and final frame.

The Wildcats trailed 14-0 in the second quarter, but as has been the case throughout this season, the Aggies failed to hold on. Texas A&M was also playing with a hurt backfield. Cyrus Gray is fighting a sore groin, and Christine Michael is out for the year with a torn ACL.

How much that mattered here is uncertain. What is clear is that Kansas State’s resurgence this year is legitimate.

Missouri running back Henry Josey, the Big 12’s leading rusher, was taken off the field with an apparent leg injury and did not return in a win over Texas.

On the opposite side of the field, Texas suffered its own loss. Running back Fozzy Whittaker also injured his leg and returned to the sidelines on crutches.

Josey, who averages 8.5 yards a carry, had only 19 yards when he left the game.

Texas scored first when Justin Tucker made a 27-yard field goal. Missouri QB James Franklin scored on a 2-yard run with 8:46 left in the second quarter, and the Tigers added another TD, this one a 35-yard run by Kendial Lawrence, to make it 14-3 at halftime. Trey Barrow added another field goal in the third quarter. Texas’ safety with 3:31 left was hardly enough to make up for gaining only 249 yards of total offense.

It has been a tough year for running backs in the Big 12.

Texas A&M tailback Christine Michael tore his ACL last week and is done for the year. Oklahoma lost running back Dominique Whaley (broken ankle). Iowa Sate running back Shontrelle Johnson (neck) was out for most of the year. In October, Texas Tech running back Eric Stephens’ season ended with a dislocated knee.

Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian entered Saturday 2-0 against the Trojans, but the third time was not a similar charm.

Curtis McNeal rushed for a career high 148 yards, including a 79-yard run for a touchdown, and Marquise Lee returned the post-halftime kickoff 88 yards for another score as the Trojans rolled at home.

Washington did not score its first touchdown until the 13:36 mark of the third quarter, when Chris Polk ran in from 1 yard out. Meanwhile, QB Keith Price left the game in the third with a left knee injury, giving way to Nick Montana, who completed 9-of-15 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. Price completed 12-of-16 passes for 125 yards before departing.

Washington (6-4, 4-3 Pac-12) has lost three of its last four, though it’s hard to fault the Huskies too much for falling to the three clearly best teams in the Pac-12—Stanford, Oregon and Arizona, all of whom are ranked.

Fitzgerald Toussaint’s rushed for a career high 192 yards and a touchdown, and Denard Robinson added two rushing scores of his own as the Wolverines shook off a road loss to Iowa by beating the Illini on the road.

Michigan (8-2, 4-2) shut out the Illini in the first half, then opened a 17-0 lead when Brendan Gibbons hit a 27-yard field goal.

Illinois got on the board when Nathan Scheelhaase ran in from 13 yards out late in the third quarter to close the gap to 10 points. But Michigan had an answer for that when Martavious Odoms caught a 27-yard pass from Devin Gardner. The teams exchanged touchdowns in the final quarter, capped by Toussaint’s 27-yard run with 2:24 left.

After opening the season 5-0, Illinois is now 6-4 and 2-4 in the Big Ten. It finishes its season with a home game against Wisconsin and a road tilt in Minnesota.

Tony Milliano’s game-tying field goal was blocked by West Virginia’s Eain Smith as the Mountaineers held on to upset the No. 23 Bearcats at Paul Brown Stadium.

A bigger loss for Cincinnati was that of quarterback Zach Collaros, who left the game in the second quarter and spent the rest of the afternoon watching from the sideline with his right foot and ankle heavily taped.

West Virginia led 17-7 at halftime, but as is typical in the Big East this year, nothing was a given.

Cincinnati had arguably been the conference’s best, and certainly its most consistent. So when Munchie Legaux, who replaced Collaros, sprinted to the end zone on a 7-yard run to close the gap to 17-14, it wasn’t a surprise. And when Isaiah Pead put the Bearcats in front with a 10-yard TD, it seemed Cincinnati would prevail.

But WVU didn’t go away. Shawne Alston’s 1-yard TD put the game back in the Mountaineers’ favor, and Geno Smith made sure they held on to it.

Southern Mississippi had to withstand a touchdown with no time remaining and a failed two-point conversion, to hold on for a 30-29 win over Central Florida.

J.J. Worton’s 25 yard touchdown reception as time expired put UCF down by one point. UCF then decided to go for the win and go for two, but quarterback Blake Bortles pass was deflected by Southern Mississippi safety Jacorious Cotton and fell incomplete.

Quarterback Austin Davis led the way for Southern Mississippi throwing for 366 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Balentine added 122 receiving yards for the Golden Eagles. Danny Hrapmann was a perfect five-for-five in field goal attempts, connecting on field goals of 22, 28, 44, 46 and 48 yards.

Worton finished with 114 yards and a touchdown in a losing effort for the Golden Knights.

THURSDAY'S GAMES

David Wilson rushed for a career-high 175 yards, and QB Logan Thomas accounted for five touchdowns as the Hokies beat the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.

Virginia Tech outgained Georgia Tech on the ground—no small feat against a team that came into the game second in the nation in rushing.

“We just came in saying that we were going to run the ball,” Wilson said, per the team’s website. “That’s how we were going to win the game. The coaches were saying that, and as a running back, that’s what I want to hear. We’ve got great running backs, and a good quarterback who can use his feet. With the offensive linemen doing their job … when we put it all together, we get a victory.”

The win keeps the Hokies (9-1, 5-1 ACC) in control of the Coastal Division.

With the Cougars' blowout win, they improved to 10-0, with games against Conference USA West rivals SMU and Tulsa remaining.

But what is more interesting for Houston is that ESPN's College Gameday will make its first appearance on the Houston campus next week leading up to the Cougars' home finale vs. the Mustangs. It also serves as senior QB Case Keenum's final home game.

"This is part of the championships culture we are building here at the University of Houston," coach Kevin Sumlin said in a statement. "Not just on the field, but for our student-athletes in the classroom, in the community and the involvement of our fans and alumni, this is what we have all worked towards. This is an opportunity to show the country what UH Athletics is all about."